Lineups for opener of a homestand

Svrluga here. Trying this thing on for size again. Chico making his way cross country from Oregon and Saslow's wedding, so I'll have to do for tonight.

I've got some left-over stuff from my story that ran last week on Stan Kasten and Andy MacPhail, perhaps one last Didn't Make the Paper installment. But for now, here are lineups against the Phillies, who lost a narrow one yesterday to the Jays in Philly.

Collin Balester beat up a little bit (five innings, six runs) yesterday for Columbus. So who pitched the ninth? First baseman Larry Broadway, a hitless inning with a strikeout. Broadway has now tossed two scoreless frames for the Clippers, hitting a batter but not allowing any hits.

Perhaps we will have news on Shawn Hill in a while. Talk to you shortly.

Barrys Back...the writer, not the player. Is there anything more to this Kearns elbow injury thing, or is this just a way of benching him without embarrassing a veteran player on a last place club who is in the doldrums of a horrible slump?

Coverage really sucks Barry.....What would you call those game stories for the weekend. Kearns gets benched and then "hurt", Flores get tossed, Hill breaks down and our beat reporter is off the job after what 5 games was it?

The very worst part....now we find out that he is taking several days off to go to a wedding of the all time low Games Story Author of all time.......Barry honestly what gives......recall your new frankness ......"Milledge is no centerfielder" and consider we have had no posts all weekend and really nothing Friday because Chico spent the game looking for a camera......tell us the truth about coverage for once by the Wpost.

Barry, could you please explain the work ethic thing to Chico. What's with this 'Sorry Professor, I can't come to class today" stuff. Did you not tell him how you posted from Maine on your vacation? Did podcasts, blogs, features, notes, television, and radio on the same day?

Lighten up on Chico. He obviously had plans to attend this wedding a long time in the making. Why should he miss the wedding to fill the voids in our pathetic, info-craving, misguided, poorly prioritized baseball wanna-be lives.

I bet the reason we're not seeing more about Kearn's injury is because Manny is using the "Belliard Protocol" of hiding the injury, but maintaining the "threat" of using Kearns in a tight situation.
Anyway, that's what I heard...

Gotta give Chico credit for being savvy enough to not announce that he was going to _Saslow's_ wedding. Even after only a week on the job, he realized that he'd get pilloried here if people knew that was where he was going. Except that he forgot to tell Barry not to mention it. Always a flaw in even the best-laid plans.

But my question is this: Would Saslow have even known the difference if Chico had offered his toast to the bride and groom from some other wedding, or the infield at Pimlico, or even OPCY, rather than in Oregon?

Also, if he's Saslow's friend, did he sit on the bride's or the groom's side at the ceremony?

Svrluga-weren't you one of those meant to be helped in "operation vowel drop" over the Balkans?

http://alumni.media.mit.edu/~cahn/humor/vowel-drop

"Said Sjlbvdnzv resident Grg Hmphrs, 67: "With just a few key letters, I could be George Humphries. This is my dream."

Will you have young Chico tell us more on why Flores got tossed? Tim McClelland was so kind and funny when Guzman tried to take 1st on 3 pitches, and he is one of the most respected umps in baseball. He's not hollering and dancing and showing guys up when he rings 'em up. Yet he wanted to make sure that Jesus was out of the dugout. The whole incident was odd. What did Jesus say to p him off so?

After Chico's long, circuitous journey from Down Under to the Nats beat, would it really have been a problem for him to delay his debut by a week, hence eliminating all this consternation over, well, ZERO coverage of a series that was of interest to many in the region and allowing Chico to have as many computer problems and attend as many weddings as possible? Could I write a longer sentence? Maybe.

This may be a bit harsh, but it hasn't exactly been a great week for the Nats Beat writer.

Does the WASHPOST Chico realize they've created this new technology called...Wait for it...Wireless Fidelity, I believe the kids call it Wi-Fi.

I know he's young and wants to get drunk and not worry about "work," but he's also a beat writer and it's not like anyone expects actual articles. Does it take all that much effort to schedule gameday posts (a few days ahead of time) that say:

"Nationals and Phillies face off scheduled starters: XXXX and XXXX.

I'm in Portland enjoying the weather and the open bar so if someone would be so kind as to post the actual lineups and starting pitchers (in case Myers gets arrested again) I'll mention you in my best-man toast."

In the first week his work was suddenly "deleted" from his computer. -- He followed Boswell around staring at his shoes instead of working (and admitted it). -- He "forced" the guy he replaced to come off the bench and do his job.

im with NoVa here. i've never missed a day of work, certainly not for something as girly as a best friend's wedding. and i've never had a problem with my computer. this kid is just a booze loving slacker and we deserve much better.

Don't forget Chico's rationalizing that having our game stories written by the O's Beat Writer would be fine......Man he really does not seem to have a clue....Did he really tell us that he had spent time reading the blogs to get up to speed when he was down under.....I guess he did not read this blog......

Also, since you bring it up, JayB, I thought the O's writer's Nats gamer was awesome. After reading it I thought, "wait, was the O's writer on Saturday? This doesn't sound like Barry." And sure enough, O's writer! He can sub for Chico every now and then, if he keeps being good.

Washington Post did get the number one thing they wanted in a new reporter though....I am sure he came cheap, not like he had experience any of the useless experience they would have to pay for or that old fashioned, outdated, work ethic to praise. Honestly, one day he is here on the job completing his first week and the next we have the O's beat writer for the most important series of the year to date......nice WPost.

Re: Love
It was somewhat in jest, but you've never had to work while on vacation? Wow, you're lucky.

I wasn't even suggesting he work while away, just schedule posts before he left to be uploaded before the games during the Phillies series. Minimal effort, yet it makes it look like he actually is taking his job seriously. BTW I wouldn't have cared at all if it weren't for that Boswell tidbit he shared.

Maybe it's just me, but I feel like having Barry step in for this evening is better than having preloaded posts that would likely have to be altered anyway as lineups change (see: Kearns, A. and Mackowiak, R.).

While there was a little bit of silence over the weekend, I actually appreciate it, if only for how it continues to shed ever-stupefying light on how unbelievably personally JayB takes the whole thing.

most interesting 3 outs i ever saw was one night infielder kiko garcia pitched and got all three outs on pickoff moves to 1st base. this was during the 34 year hiatus but i won't mention where out of pure nats loyalty.

If you see a dork sitting alone trying to keep score and feed my 6 month old at the same time in the $5 seats tonight, that'd be me. Feel free to come by and say hello or discuss why we should fire Bowden.

Stories missed by Chico while he was focusing on Boz shoes and leaving beat writing duties to that, "outstanding" was it, O's guy.....Hill may miss a start and can not through between starts due to pain......uh this Shawn Hill, the 'ace" of the staff, the one Barry asked if we thought this was the year for 30 starts and they key to the season back in March....Kearns "hitting" below .200 gets "hurt".....Flores, get tossed....Milledge still not taking any charge in the OF but saying he must play CF because he will never hit more that 10 HRs.....Lenny Harris still 'why should I worry?".......nope the O's guy did a great job over the weekend.....just note all the posts with these topics on the NJ......Yup lets cut Chico some slack, that way he will like us more......like that matters....call them like you see them and stop sucking up people.

It's childish to jump to conclusions about a new guy and pile on to criticize him when he's not there to defend himself. It's infantile to continually demand that a beat writer jump to meet your demands and post about the topic(s) of your choosing immediately if not sooner. The world does not revolve around you, shocking as that may seem.

In re Broadway's scoreless 9th: i wonder how the other pitchers in the AAA bullpen feel when a first Basement gets the inning versus one of them. Is that insulting? Or would it be more insulting to be called into pitch the 9th of a 10-1 loss? Probably the latter.

Balester's start not good; personally I'd love to see Mock called up for a spot start instead of Chico. He's on the 40man, we could DL Kearns or (finally) DFA Mackowiak to bring him up. But i don't think that date works into his scheduled day to pitch so he'd be going on 4 days rest.

It would be O'Connor's turn to start on 5/21. But i can't see him coming back up.

Indeed. I think that guy John Lannon has a chance to be a real working-class hero, you know, the middle-or-the-rotation starter that gets the job done eight days a week, even when he doesn't have his best stuff. If the offense can come together, and Lennan and the rest of the staff keep looking that way, I imagine all the people complaining on here of late will start singing a different tune.

Kearns has a good arm...perhaps he could pitch, that way he would be considered a good hitter and a candidate for a silver slugger award...problem solved, oh, thats right, elbow problems...fits with the rest of the staff.

Thanks, Natsfan1a. Dave's note prompted me to think of my Mom, who passed last summer. Today would have been my her 81st Birthday. She enjoyed baseball as much because it provided the family so much conversation as for the games themselves. Kevin Youkilis, her favorite ballplayer, homered the night she passed. I made sure she knew while she was resting before the inevitable. I'm wearing the blue Youk jersey today.

I agree that I am taking an extreme view but those are the stories and having a guy who is focusing on Boz's shoes and his 20 something wedding plans rather than the stories at hand seems unprofessional to me. Don't have to pick the stories I see, he could pick the ones he thinks are the most important but nothing at all and hope the O's guy cares to pick up the slack seems wrong to me. But hey if I am the bad cop you all can be the good cop and he will love you for it.

Chico- Please skip this subject. People complaining about you missing a weekend for a wedding are truly embarrassing to The Constituency. Utterly.

Next- I am enjoying your writing immensely, and look forward to enjoying your work over the long term, not over a single weekend.

As for Mackowiak and Harris in the field tonight? Oh, yeah, you can bet I noticed, and it causes me pain. I don't doubt that it is earned, but I am dismayed that it came to this, even for a single game.

Another thought on the outfield. I am coming around to the idea of hiring Kenny Lofton to play center field this year, and sending Dukes back to the minors to right the ship. If Dukes gets hot, and Milledge continues to sink, then send Milledge down for a little (no I have not given up on him long-term).

Lofton would likely have yet another good season, at least good enough to be traded one more time in July (unless Bowden signs him to a 2-year deal. Oy.)

Don't slink away Chris! We have our resident curmudgeons, and some of them tend to make the same negative points with some regularity. In their defense, however, many of them have contributions to make when they're not busy defending themselves against other posters who want to argue those same points endlessly. As for the rest of us, we need all the help we can get keeping the dialog interesting, funny, and at least tangentially related to baseball. Or music, or food, or haiku. Or sandhill cranes. OK, the baseball thing is a plus, but not an absolute requirement.

Excellent, Bob L. I knew that I could get that one by with a little help from my friends.

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Indeed. I think that guy John Lannon has a chance to be a real working-class hero, you know, the middle-or-the-rotation starter that gets the job done eight days a week, even when he doesn't have his best stuff. If the offense can come together, and Lennan and the rest of the staff keep looking that way, I imagine all the people complaining on here of late will start singing a different tune.